Beware of White Elephants

What comes first, the building or the community / the culture and ecosystem?

It is very easy to build a building. It is even easier to fill a building full of expensive equipment. Buildings are tempting - they are big, they are visible and they are statement pieces and politicians LOVE them.

A white elephant is typically used to refer to an expensive and burdensome possession or property that is difficult to dispose of or maintain. The term "white elephant" originates from the historic practice of giving rare and sacred white elephants as gifts in Southeast Asia, which were considered a great honor but also a significant burden to care for. In modern times, the term is often used to describe something that is more trouble than it is worth or an item that has little practical value but is difficult to get rid of due to its high cost or sentimental value.

But there is a downside to it. If you build a building BEFORE the community or the culture that drives the need is there, the same politics that loves making big statements also will do various short sighted decision to make the building "appear" successful.

When Chennai's IT ecosystem was conceived, it was a bold move to build the TIDEL Park. Tidel park wasn't fully occupied for years - and it was a statement piece for years - that the state was thinking ahead. But not all buildings are the same. Buildings that are generic - warm shells with no character can be temporarily engaged with things as the industry moves along and matures.

There is however a problem with specialized buildings. You build a large biopharmaceutical complex, or a medical devices manufacturing hub or even an incubator and the building is specially designed. And it also comes with prebuilt services - services that will bleed money for years till the community, culture and ecosystem develops. And whatever the decision makers might do, to run temporary programs will not only confuse the original vision of the facility, but also possibly derail the whole mission when there is a transition in government. Here's the kicker : every piece of equipment is so cutting edge that while we wait, it is going obsolete.

In Academia and in Governments, these are called White Elephants. The world has no shortage of white elephants. While elephants give phenomenal boasting power - but it is a tall order to make it work.

In today's world where the private sector has created models where you can scale up as you go with very short notice, there is very little incentive to build big monoliths - unless they are explicit statement pieces. Also a distributed ecosystem where a cluster of small businesses and MSMEs cater to a need is far more resilient than in a consolidated, integrated, government-run initiative.

The building is a tool. It is hired to do a job. The smart thing is to resist the temptation to not make a show piece, but a functional building that grows with use. The community, Culture and ecosystem comes first - that is what will sustain it. Hire the building to do the job that exists today, or tomorrow. Not for next year or worse a decade down the line. That's not a smart move.